There are fundamentally three specific elements of an electrical contact that are used within a multiple position connector. A multiple position connector for this purpose is defined as one which contains a molded plastic housing and a series of contacts that are attached to wires or printed circuit boards and installed into the molded housing. The contacts may be installed either before (ex., insulation displacement) or after (ex., crimp-snap) the wires have been attached. The contact elements are:

Separable Interface “Front End”

Permanent Interface “Back End”

Contact Retention Area

This article details several of the important design considerations for each of the three elements.